Chessbrah TV GM

Big-Picture Trends

• Your rating has climbed +70 over the last 3 months, but dipped –16 this month. • The trend line is still pointing up (positive slope on all time-frames), so the underlying play is improving even if the most recent stretch felt bumpy. • Many of the losses are on time or in already difficult positions that dragged on; clock handling is currently the #1 limiter of further rating gains.

What’s Working Well

• Sicilian Kan & French-style structures as Black – clean strategic wins against strong 2700-3000 opponents show comfort with … c5 / …e6 set-ups and converting small structural edges.
• Tactical Alertness – good eye for forcing sequences (e.g. 31…Rxf3!! in the win over Elham Amar which won material and ended resistance).
• Piece Activity – in several victories you out-posted knights on d5/f5 and seized open files quickly.

Recurring Pain-Points

• Clock Management
  • 4 of the 8 listed losses were flagged positions where the engine score was roughly equal or only slightly worse.
  • You often enter severe time trouble before move 25 – especially in King’s Indian Attack setups where the early play is quiet and moves come slowly.
• Loose g-pawn pushes as White
  • Games vs Seochesspie (A07) & sofaceindisguise show …g‐file self-weakening – 18.g5?, 13.g4?! – that Black exploited with counter-punches.
• Conversion Technique when Ahead
  • In the loss to Saqo25 you were a clear rook up on move 21 but allowed counterplay, slipped into perpetual-check territory and flagged.

Opening Insights

As White
• You lean heavily on the King’s Indian Attack (Nf3, g3, Bg2). Current score in the sample: 3 wins / 5 losses.
• Consider mixing in e4-c3 Alapin (which you handle well as Black!) or simple 1.e4 & open Sicilians to avoid predictable setups and time-consuming manoeuvres.

As Black
• The Sicilian Kan (…a6 …e6 …Qc7 …d6) is a bright spot – keep refining plans against English Attack ideas (g4/Bg2 lines); the …d5 break on move 17 works nicely.
• In B40 lines vs 3.g3 you sometimes delay …d5 too long and get squeezed. Watch model games by Giri/Karjakin where …d5 is played around move 7-9.

Time-Control Specific Tips

• “One-Move” Rule – in quiet positions force yourself to make a safe move within 5 seconds. Save deep thinks for tactical branches.
• Pre-Move Training – set aside 10-minute sessions of bullet purely to practise safe pre-moves (recaptures, forced king moves) so they become second nature.
• Endgame Triggers – when up material, trade queens quickly; this cuts opponent counter-shots and lowers calculation load.

Concrete Drills for the Coming Week

• Play 20 blitz games starting the clock at 2:45 (instead of 3:00) and finishing with ≥0:10 on your clock – train moving faster than comfortable.
• Review 5 master games where White wins vs the Kan; note pawn breaks and typical endings you should expect to defend.
• Solve 50 tactics featuring …Nf4 / …Nd3 forks – these showed up for and against you several times.

Quick Reference – Key Moment

Study the following mini-sequence; aim to spot it within 5 seconds during play:

The idea: pile on f- and h-files, use a double attack to win a piece, then immediately switch to mating nets. Your execution here was model – replicate this decisiveness in other games.

Bottom Line

Your chess strength is trending upward; the fastest way to turn that into rating gains is clock discipline and slightly more solid opening choices with White. Keep the tactical sharpness, patch the time trouble, and a return to the 3050+ zone should follow naturally.